


you outshine the morning sun...my son

by fullmetallizard



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Childbirth, F/M, T is for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-05
Packaged: 2018-07-21 16:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7395766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullmetallizard/pseuds/fullmetallizard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Roy sighed. “How you convinced that poor girl to have your spawn is beyond me.” <br/>“Shut up, Colonel Bastard,” Ed said dismissively, biting down on his thumbnail.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	you outshine the morning sun...my son

**Author's Note:**

> I very much do not own FMA.

They were silent for most of the car ride. Ed was far too tangled up in his thoughts to attempt conversation. They’d been so quiet for so long that Ed jumped once the silence was broken.

“Why am I driving you to your house and not the hospital again?” Roy Mustang asked, taking a left turn just a little too sharply for Ed’s taste.

“Because Winry wanted to give birth at home. Can you shut your trap and focus on not killing us, please? She’s already been in labor for ten hours and I don’t want to miss anything.”

Roy sighed. “How you convinced that poor girl to have your spawn is beyond me.”

“Shut up, Colonel Bastard,” Ed said dismissively, biting down on his thumbnail.

“Brigadier General Bastard, actually.”

Ed wanted to make a smartass remark back at him but he was so nervous he could barely keep his lunch down. He decided to focus his energy on breathing at a regular rate.

“You’re really freaking out, Fullmetal,” Roy noted, sounding absolutely delighted.

“Yeah,” Ed said, softly, unable to keep the bravado up any longer. “Well, after today I’m someone’s dad. It’s…it’s a big deal.”

Mustang made a sound if agreement in the back of his throat and then they didn’t speak again for the rest of the ride. Once they pulled up near the house, Ed burst out of the door without waiting for Roy to come to a complete stop. “Dammit, Fullmetal!” He heard from behind him. He waved it off because he simply didn’t have the headspace to care. He ran inside and up the stairs to their bedroom, expecting the worst. His heart was pounding in his chest and his breathing was choppy. What if he opened the door to blood and pain? Worse, what if Winry was _crying_?  

After just a moment with his hand on the doorknob, Ed summoned up his courage and slowly swung the door open. “Oh, Ed! Hi,” Winry smiled, surprisingly calm. She was standing by the window in a nightgown that went to her knees. She had one hand on her belly and one on the window sill.

“Should you be up?” His heart was still racing. Of all the things he expected, Winry at ease and smiling was nowhere on the list. And maybe he was wrong for that, given that he knew his wife was one of the strongest people he’d ever known.

“Yes she can be up, you idiot. She’s only seven centimeters,” Pinako snapped, surprising Ed and breezing past where he stood, still frozen in the doorway. She had a stack of towels in her arms and a few pairs of gloves poking out of her apron pocket.

“How far apart are the contractions?” He asked. He’d spent the last few months reading up on childbirth and had felt confident in the knowledge. Over-prepared, even. But now, standing in the room he knew his child was about to enter the world in, he wasn’t so sure.

“Two, three minutes apart maybe,” Winry said, tone still soft and soothing.

“You’re close then.” A nervous chuckle fell out of him before he could stop it. “How are you not freaking out? Doesn’t it hurt?”

“Of course it hurts. But walking helps. And Granny said this won’t be the worst of it. That’ll happen when-” Winry stopped mid-sentence and made a scrunched up face, exhaling heavily.

“Winry?” His heart really hadn’t calmed down since she’d called him hours prior to tell him this was it.

“That one was pretty bad,” she admitted, giving a strained, little smile.

“Why don’t you lie down?” He suggested, not sure what else he could offer her  

“Yeah, that’d be good.” She gave a big sigh when the contraction seemed to be over and she then waddled to her side of the bed. Ed sat beside her on his.

She had just adjusted the pillows around her how she wanted them when she was hit with another contraction. She gave a little gasp and Ed offered his hand. This happened for about thirty minutes, Ed murmuring comforting things and stories about his travels to distract her, before a really rough one started. She managed to breathe through it before she called to Granny.

“They’re closer and more intense,” she reported once Pinako entered the room. Ed could see how hard she was working to keep her breathing under control and his heart twisted. He kissed her hair and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“Well, let me check you,” Pinako said, donning a glove. “Yep. You’re almost there. But your cervix isn’t thinned out so don’t push. You’re going to want to but you can’t.”

“This is the really hard part, right?” Winry asked, voice trembling.

“I’m sorry. But, yes it is, hon. But you can handle it. Call for me when the urge to push is too much. I’ll just be down the hall.” She patted Winry’s arm and then left.  

Once the coast was clear, Ed put a hand on Winry’s stomach and felt it clench and harden with a contraction. He could see the concentration on her face as she worked through the pain of it. Despite the fear he felt from watching his wife in pain, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe of what her body was doing.

“There’s a miracle in there,” Ed whispered, rubbing his thumb over the hill of her belly.

“It doesn’t feel like a miracle at the moment,” Winry said. Her voice was tired and reedy but she gave him a tiny smile, putting her hand on top of Ed’s.

Another hour passed. Ed’s heart was racing and had become convinced that childbirth was definitely torture and that whatever God might exist was obviously sadistic and evil. Winry was shivering, which Granny assured them was normal. He had moved and was sitting behind her with one of his legs on either side of her. She’d gotten too frustrated to listen to any more stories so he focused on kneading her lower back. Contractions were back to back and lasting for so long.   

“This can’t be right. I can’t stand this,” Ed felt panicked seeing Winry in pain that he could do nothing for. He wished Al were there. Al or May could do some alkahestry for her so she wasn’t suffering so damn much.

“No, it’s right. It just sucks. But please don’t faint, Ed. I’ll _kill_ you if you faint.”

Suddenly, her fists bunched the fabric at the knees of his pants and she twisted around a little. “I need to push,” she whined.

“Granny!” Ed called, chest completely seized with panic. Tears had started to slip down Winry’s pink face, leaving him feeling more frightened than ever.

“Okay,” Granny said, rushing into the room. “Let me check, let me check,” she muttered, tugging on gloves. Winry whined again as she checked. “You’re ready to push. Stop that blubbering. This part is actually easier than the transition.”

Winry nodded and started shifting to get in a better position. “You can do this, Win,” Ed told her, sitting up so she could have her back against his chest. She reached for his hand with her shaking one and gripped it tight.

She took a strangled breath. “Con…trac…tion,” she grunted out, squeezing her eyes shut.

“Push through it,” Pinako told her.

Winry held her breath and bore down. “Oh god,” she choked out on her exhale once the contraction passed. “That _sucks_.”

A minute or so passed before the next one but once it hit her, she laid her head back on Ed’s shoulder and cried.

“You damn idiot,” she breathed out to him once it was done. “Why’d I let you do this to me?”

“It wasn’t exactly planned,” Ed smiled, kissing her temple. “You’re so awesome, Winry. You can do it.”

“I…I’m scared,” she admitted, her voice strained.

“You got through the really hard part. Now it’s just a matter of actually getting the baby out,” Granny soothed.

“Here comes another,” Winry said through gritted teeth.

It went on until Ed was sure he’d lose his mind. She pushed for twenty minutes before releasing a moan. “Oh, what the _fuck_?!”

“It’s the head! Come on, Winry!” Granny said.

“I can’t!” Winry sobbed out. Ed’s heart sank. She was so tired and Ed could tell she was close to giving up.

“Give me your hand,” Granny ordered. She grabbed Winry’s free hand and pulled it down in between her legs. “That’s the head. You’re so close! Come on!”

Winry bore down once more. “Whole head’s out. Get those shoulders out and then it’s smooth sailing,” Pinako called out.

“Go, Winry!” Ed shouted. She gripped his hand and screamed. She was joined by a baby wailing. Ed’s jaw dropped.

“It’s a boy!” Granny called.

“A BOY! _AWESOME_!”

“Ed…” Winry said, eyes filling with fresh tears, this time ones of relief and warmth. “We have a son.”

“And here he is.” Pinako laid the baby on Winry’s chest and put a blanket on top of him.

“Oh my god,” the new parents said at the same time. They stared down at the little human they’d created, at each other, and then back down to the baby.

“He’s blonde,” Winry said, rubbing his unbelievably small back. He was still crying. “That’s right, honey,” she told him through her grin and tears. “Use those lungs.”

 “Have you thought of a name?” Pinako asked, trying (and failing) not to tear up at the sight of her new great grandson.

“Benjamin Urey Elric,” Winry sighed, happily. “Ben.”

“Hi, Ben,” Ed said in the most gentle tone he could manage. He lightly rubbed the baby’s cheek and chuckled as Ben turned and latched onto his finger. “Sorry, buddy. I’ve got nothing there for you. That’s all Mom.”

Winry laughed and began to nurse him. She leaned onto Ed, sighed happily and soon started to fall asleep. Granny had left the room at some point and it was now just the tiny family together.

“I can’t believe you did that. That was amazing.”

“You want to push the next one out?” Winry laughed sleepily.

“You just do it so well. It’d be a shame to deprive you of a chance to showcase your talent.”

“Idiot.” She mumbled.

“Moron,” he responded, placing a lingering kiss on her temple.

“I love you, Ed.”

“Yeah, I love you too.”


End file.
